A blog exploring morality, politics, and religion.

Should we celebrate the death of Osama Bin Laden?

Posted on May 2, 2011

Last night’s news that Osama Bin Laden was killed in a raid by U.S. forces quickly spawned celebrations in the U.S. (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), From a moral perspective, this raises a couple questions:

Is it ever appropriate to celebrate the death of a person? Why or why not?

Does the fact that it cost billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of lives to get Bin Laden have implications for the appropriateness of celebrating his death? Is a somber, reflective mood more befitting?

What, if anything, do you think these celebrations say about us as humans, or as Americans?

One quick note: there is an important difference between “celebrate” and “welcome.” We can certainly welcome news of Bin Laden’s death without celebrating.